/*
 * Copyright (c) 2009, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
 * ORACLE PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 */

/*
 *
 *
 *
 *
 *
 * The MIT License
 *
 * Copyright (c) 2004-2015 Paul R. Holser, Jr.
 *
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
 * a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
 * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
 * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
 * distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to
 * permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to
 * the following conditions:
 *
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
 * included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 *
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
 * EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
 * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
 * NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE
 * LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION
 * OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION
 * WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 */

package jdk.internal.joptsimple;

/**
 * Instances of this interface are used to convert arguments of options into specific Java types.
 *
 * @param <V> constraint on the type of values being converted to
 * @author <a href="mailto:pholser@alumni.rice.edu">Paul Holser</a>
 */
public interface ValueConverter<V> {
    /**
     * Converts the given string value into a Java type.
     *
     * @param value the string to convert
     * @return the converted value
     * @throws ValueConversionException if a problem occurs while converting the value
     */
    V convert( String value );

    /**
     * Gives the class of the type of values this converter converts to.
     *
     * @return the target class for conversion
     */
    Class<? extends V> valueType();

    /**
     * Gives a string that describes the pattern of the values this converter expects, if any.  For example, a date
     * converter can respond with a {@link java.text.SimpleDateFormat date format string}.
     *
     * @return a value pattern, or {@code null} if there's nothing interesting here
     */
    String valuePattern();
}
